Egypt to hold referendum on constitution this week

January 13, 2014 - 3:38:28 am

Egyptians taking part in their country’s constitutional referendum at their embassy in Doha on Saturday.

CAIRO: Egyptians vote this week for the first time since Mohamed Mursi’s downfall in a constitutional referendum that will likely give a final push to a presidential bid by the man who deposed him, army chief General Abdel Fattah Al Sisi.

Approval of the rewritten constitution appears a foregone conclusion: Mursi’s now outlawed Muslim Brotherhood is urging a boycott rather than a ‘no’ vote, while many Egyptians who backed his overthrow are expected to vote ‘yes’ in a show of support for the army-backed order that has replaced Islamist rule. The state is urging citizens to vote in numbers tomorrow and Wednesday.

Analysts say it hopes that the turnout and the ‘yes’ vote will outstrip ballots won by the Brotherhood to give the new order a seal of legitimacy. “Egypt is on the threshold of a decisive stage in its history, the results of which are awaited by the world,” Sisi said on Saturday. REUTERS